Hunt for owner of 1943 Peter Pan book found in France

Tracey Green found the book in her railway station in the south of France

A woman is hoping a sprinkling of pixie dust will help her trace the owner of a 1943 copy of Peter Pan she found in a railway station in France.

Tracey Green is renovating the disused station she bought last year and found the book among a collection she was going to donate to charity.

But the plan for Pan changed when she saw a personal inscription inside.

She hopes the words might ring a Tinkerbell and jog someone's memory.

The inscription reads: "Pauline Owen, Christmas 1943 with love from Aunty Doris and Uncle Fred.

Mrs Green said: "They could be in their 90s and still alive or have family that would just like to see it."

The name and address of Pauline Owen, 25 Scott Road, Walsall, was found written inside the book.

Tracey and Lee Green began renovating the former railway station last year

Mrs Green and husband Lee bought the railway station in a French town between Bordeaux and Toulouse, which closed to passengers in the 1930s.

They inherited a lot of books with it, she said, and had been sorting them to give to charity when the beloved children's book was discovered.

"I found this old one and it was a nice blue hardback, faded, and I saw it was Peter Pan and there were lovely colour plates in it so I was flicking through and then I saw the inscription," Mrs Green said.

Tracey Green intends to keep the book if the owner cannot be found

Mrs Green added: "It just made me think I wonder if this person would like to be reunited with this book if they're still with us, and that's why I made some inquiries."

Mrs Green said she had made some inquiries in Walsall, West Midlands, and shared the book in local Facebook groups in the hope of finding someone who may know Pauline.

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Mr and Mrs Green met when they were both working on railways in the West Midlands, where she is from originally.

The pair have regularly visited the south of France, and when Mr Green took redundancy from his job during the pandemic, they decided to move.

An old photograph shows how the station looked in days gone by

Mrs Green said: "If [the inscription] said Oxford or something that had no connection to me at all, I probably would have put it back in the box and it would have gone to charity."

She said if she could not find the owner she would keep the book for her nephews and nieces when they were able to visit her.